Thai reform leader Pita Limjaroenrat used a Kaohsiung book event to warn people that staying out of politics means politics will control them.

• Pita, chairman of Thailand's now-dissolved Move Forward Party, spoke to hundreds of readers in Kaohsiung about Thailand's democracy struggle.
• He said Thailand has one of the world's most interrupted democracies, with 11 military coups, and that coups have shifted from tanks to rewriting laws and the constitution to keep old elites in power.
• His party won about 14 million votes in the 2023 election, but the military-appointed Senate blocked him from becoming prime minister.
• He drew parallels between Taiwan and Thailand, noting they had similar economies in the 1950s before Taiwan pulled far ahead on tech and chips.
• On China, he said Thailand drifted toward the Chinese market after its 2014 coup strained ties with the US, and argued countries should diversify rather than lean on one market.

Outlook: Pita says he wants to return to Thai politics and run again, though he expects more resistance from the entrenched system.